


The Trouble with Tilly

by flipperbrain



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, Family Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-24
Updated: 2018-03-24
Packaged: 2019-04-07 13:02:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 939
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14081490
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flipperbrain/pseuds/flipperbrain
Summary: Tilly moves in with Rogers and hijinks ensue.





	The Trouble with Tilly

Rogers’ eyes fly open at the screech of the smoke alarm and he leaps out of bed, something is burning. He runs toward Tilly’s room, reeling into the door frame still shaking off sleep, adrenaline coursing through his veins.

She’s not there.

He sprints through the house and finds her standing in the kitchen furiously waving a spatula at the ceiling, smoke billowing up from a pan on the stove. ‘Stand back!’ He commands turning on the faucet, he grabs the pan and tosses it into the sink, throws open the window above it then stalks toward the pantry for the broom. It takes three whacks to dislodge the blaring plastic monster, the alarm slides across the floor and rests pathetically against the wall.

He pinches the bridge of his nose then looks at Tilly from under his eyebrows and sighs, raking his hand through his hair.

‘I’m sorry, I wanted to make breakfast for you… then I got distracted by the television’ she says grinning lopsidedly, a blush creeps over her cheeks and she looks away. Rogers walks to the living room just in time to witness the coyote being crushed beneath a giant anvil. Beep beep.

‘How apt,’ he says laughing then looks down at himself realizing he’s wearing nothing but his R2 D2 boxer briefs. He makes a mental note to wear pajama pants to bed from now on. ‘What time is it?’ He asks as he heads toward his bedroom to get dressed.

‘6:30!’ Tilly replies loudly in his direction.

Rogers rolls his eyes, no rest for the weary. He pulls on some jeans and a sweater and returns to the living room, ‘C’mon, I’ll buy you breakfast,’ he says ruffling Tilly’s hair ‘let’s leave the cooking to a professional.’

They head down the street to his favorite 24 hour diner, and Rogers studies his new young roommate as she chatters over eggs and bacon.

He felt a little guilty and a lot heartbroken when they arrived at his home last night, he showed her to the guest room and said grinning broadly ‘Make yourself comfortable! There’s a few empty drawers for your things,’ then continued ‘I’ll set out some towels and I think there's a new toothbrush you can have in the linen closet.’

Tilly bounced on the bed and smiled warmly back at him ’Thank you Detective, for this’ she said, her hand smoothing the bedspread beside her ‘and for believing in me.’ He watched for a moment as she set about unpacking her few possessions from that tattered backpack she carries. ’Here let me take your jacket, I’ll hang it in the closet near the front door,’ he remarked, blinking away the moisture threatening to gather in his eyes.

This girl needs help and he’s terribly sorry he didn’t act before now, he feels inexplicably responsible for her. He hopes Weaver will not give him the business for taking her in, though he doubts that. His partner seems to share some connection with her as well, she is after all, a lovely girl though she does have a penchant for trouble.

‘Penny for you thoughts?’ Tilly quizzes, breaking Rogers from his reverie

‘I’m sorry, love. Did you enjoy your breakfast?’ He asks

‘Delicious, thank you! I hope I can return the favor one day’ she answers shyly.

Rogers glances at his watch ‘We should go, I need to grab a shower then go to work. I’ll try to skip out early if I can, do you think you can avoid catastrophe until then?’ He asks raising an eyebrow at her.

Tilly makes a face then answers ’Yes sir.’

———————

Later that evening Rogers returns home, pleased that his house is still standing. He hauls in several bags from his car, Tilly is curled up on the couch watching tv and he plops his purchases in front of her. ‘I thought you could use a few things so I took the liberty, I hope that’s ok’ he says quietly then adds ‘Roni helped me, if they don’t fit we’ll exchange them.’

Tilly sits up with excitement, ‘all of this is for me?’ and begins to remove the items one by one. She can see Roni’s influence immediately; 4 patterned tops and 2 vintage looking tees, 2 pairs of new tights, 1 pair of distressed jeans and a plaid pleated skirt. Her eyes fills with tears as she touches and inspects each item, carefully folding them and setting them aside.

The second bag is filled entirely with undergarments, she reaches in and pulls out a bra then quickly drops it back into the bag. Rogers’ looks at the floor and scratches behind an ear that is rapidly turning as red as the ketchup she dumped on her eggs this morning.

‘Yeah, you can look at those items later,’ he says grinning with embarrassment.

‘Two more things,’ he sits next to her and hands her a mobile phone ‘I put you on my account so we can keep in touch, no long distance calls please’ then he hands her a t-shirt. She holds it up to read the words printed on the front _Property of The Seattle Police Department_. Tilly looks at him, smiling brilliantly and throws her arms around his neck, squeezing him within an inch of his life. ’Thank you’ she whispers and he hugs her back ‘you’re welcome love, now put away your new things. How about I make some popcorn and we find something stupid on tv?’

Tilly nods and skips toward her room with bags in hand.

Rogers leans back and closes his eyes, what a difference a day makes.


End file.
